Software Project Management An Introduction Asst. Professor LPU

In this introduction the main questions to be addressed will be: Outline of talk In this introduction the main questions to be addressed will be: What is software project management? Is it really different from ‘ordinary’ project management? How do you know when a project has been successful? For example, do the expectations of the customer/client match those of the developers? The two key questions are: What exactly is software project management? This is going to be tackled by looking firstly at what is meant by ‘project’. We are then going to examine whether ‘software project management’ is really different from ‘normal’ project management. Is there anything special about software as opposed to other engineered artefacts? 2. How do we define whether a project is a success or not? The point about studying project management is to be able to have successful projects. So how do we know if we have been successful?

Some dictionary definitions: What is a project? Some dictionary definitions: “A specific plan or design” “A planned undertaking” “A large undertaking e.g. a public works scheme” Longmans dictionary Here are some definitions of ‘project’. No doubt there are other ones: for example ‘Unique process, consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including constraints of time, cost and resources’ BSO ISO 10006: 1997

Are software projects really different from other projects? Not really! …but… Invisibility Complexity Flexibility make software more problematic to build than other engineered artefacts. This is based on Fred Brooks’ paper No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering which appeared in IEEE Computer 20(4) pp10-19 April 1987

What is management? This involves the following activities: Planning – deciding what is to be done Organizing – making arrangements Staffing – selecting the right people for the job Directing – giving instructions continued… This list is based on one that can be found in Introduction to Software Project Management and Quality Assurance by Darrel Ince, Helen Sharp and Mark Woodman, McGraw-Hill, 1993.

What is management? (continued) Monitoring – checking on progress Controlling – taking action to remedy hold-ups Innovating – coming up with solutions when problems emerge Representing – liaising with clients, users, developers and other stakeholders Exercise 1.6 (a day in the life of a project manager) is of relevance here.

Stakeholders These are people who have a stake or interest in the project In general, they could be users/clients or developers/implementers They could be: Within the project team Outside the project team, but within the same organization Outside both the project team and the organization Each stakeholder will have their own goals and concerns in relation to the project which may be different from those of the project as a whole. For example, a software developer might work to make a living, pay the mortgage, learn new things, solve interesting problems. The main stakeholders need, however, to understand and accept the overall project objectives.